The present invention relates generally to packaging containers and more particularly to a disposable container adapted both for the shipping and dispensing of articles such as film stock rolls and the like.
Packaging containers used by industries for the distribution of goods generally have been designed as taking into account only such considerations as weight and expense. Such containers, however, heretofore have had only a relatively short usable life after the goods have been shipped. Thereafter, the goods typically are removed from their containers, and are either placed into service or are arrange for display at a point of sale. The packaging containers, accordingly, are viewed as waste which must be disposed of in an acceptable manner. Increasingly, the use of such containers having only a limited useful life has become an environmental issue as the amount of landfill space continues to decline.
In particular, there has been a disposal problem associated with the packaging of rolls of pressure sensitive adhesive labels. These rolls are formed as a coil of film stock which often is wound around a paperboard core or the like. The film stock is formed as comprising a backing strip, generally a waxed paper or the like, and a plurality of adhesive-backed labels carried on the strip. The label is removable from the film for application onto the surface of an article to be designated.
In hospital or pharmacy settings, the labels of the type herein described are used in connection with medication as warnings or to indicate dosages, routes of administration, or expiration dates. In such settings it is necessary to have a variety of different labels ready for use. Accordingly, dispensers have been designed to make multiple rolls of labels accessible to the user.
One such dispenser is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,231,130 as comprising an open rectangular shell forming a container, and a closure having a plurality of partitions fixed therein which divide the interior of the shell into a plurality of chambers for containing the label rolls. For the dispensing of the labels, the top wall of the closure is provided with a slot adjacent an edge thereof through which the label bearing strip is threaded. A front hold-down bar is mounted on the closure and is spaced slightly from the top wall to enable the label strip to pass freely thereunder, but also to retain the strip relatively flat against the top wall. A pick-off bar, formed as a narrow, upstanding flange, is disposed across the closure above the hold-down bar to be engaged by and to support the labels as they are removed from the strip. A second hold-down bar is secured on the closure and is spaced inwardly of the rear wall thereof. The second hold-down bar functions to retain the strips in an orderly fashion, and also as a tear-off bar for the removal of excess strip material. With the dispenser loaded and closed, a user may obtain a selected label by pressing a particular strip against the top wall behind the front hold-down bar, and then sliding the strip toward the rear hold-down bar to pull the strip from the dispenser and over the edge of the slot. As the strip approaches the slot, a lip thereof is engaged to thereby hold the strip in a plane substantially perpendicular to the top wall. As the strip then passes over the edge of the slot, the label is held by the lip perpendicular to the top wall such that the inherent stiffness of the label causes the leading edge thereof to peel from the strip as it is withdrawn from the dispenser. The separated label is made to engage the pick-off bar and is held thereon to be available to the user.
Although dispensers of the type described represented an advance over the art, the construct thereof was rather involved and resulted in a container having an expense and weight precluding its use for shipping as well as dispensing label rolls. Accordingly, each roll of labels heretofore has typically been separately packaged in a blister pack arrangement wherein a transparent cavity configured to receive the roll is glued to a generally planar, paper or chip board backer. The roll and backer are inserted for use into the dispenser, the interior walls of which are configured as having inwardly-spaced slots to receive the edges of the backer. However, the separate packaging of the label rolls, and the shipping of label rolls separately from the dispenser, will be appreciated to generate an amount of packaging material waste which no longer can be considered acceptable. It is apparent, therefore, that alterative means for shipping and dispensing the rolls of adhesive labels so widely used in the medical and other fields would be well-received both by the shipping and distribution industries, and by the customers thereof. A preferred alternative would be inexpensive and light-weight, and also would be recyclable to minimize the environmental impact of its use.